CURWENSVILLE – Three seniors celebrated their final night in the Curwensville Area High School Gymnasium on Thursday, reaching an important milestone in their life, but certainly not the last. Steve McClure, Paige Bryan, and Noah Holt were all honored, noting their hard work ethic and impressive future plans they all share. While they’ve finished climbing the ladder of high school, all three of these young adults look forward to new challenges that face them, and with the lessons they’ve learned in wrestling, they just might have what it takes to achieve all their dreams.Though Curwensville was beaten by Brockway 51-26, their spirit was not. There were only five matches wrestled, and Curwensville won two of them. The Tide finished their dual season at 3-13.
Starting off the night, McClure (25-2) wrestled a sound match and won a convincing 5-1 decision over Brockway’s Hayden Thompson (18-10). McClure wrestled smart, using front headlock go-behinds to score both of his takedowns. In the second period, McClure got aggressive and tried to headlock Thompson, but he didn’t quite hit the move hard enough and was nearly taken down himself. He showed off impressive agility for a heavyweight, however and recovered without giving up any points.
Following McClure’s victory, there were four forfeits in a row, including one to Curwensville’s junior Blake Passarelli (23-4), who dropped down to 113 in a move directed at the post-season. Passarelli looked worn out from cutting weight, but he also looked massive, and with his talent level being what it is, he could do very well in the next few weeks.
“It would have been nice to see him get a match in, being that light, but you can’t force the other team to send out their guys.” said Coach Dean Swatsworth.
The next match was wrestled at 132, when Golden Tide sophomore Zach Holland (15-3) dominated the Rover’s Noah Bash (12-12). Holland used an impressive first period takedown to go to work on top, where he used arm bars and half nelsons to try and pin Bash. Holland eventually got the tech fall in 4:31, and he closed the score gap to 18-14, Brockway.
The Rover’s didn’t waste any time getting back on the board though, as Santino Inzana (18-12) would pin Curwensville’s sophomore Caleb Stiles (2-7) in just 2:36 in their 138 pound bout.
Curwenville’s luck didn’t change at 145 either, as Golden Tide sophomore Adam Straw (11-10) ended up losing to Brockway’s Linkin Nichols (10-16) in the third period of their match. Down 4-2 to start the third, Nichols chose bottom. Straw rode Nichols for a good bit of the period, but he was eventually reversed onto his back. That five point move made the final score 7-4, Nichols, and Brockway was winning 27-14.
Then Brockway did something unusual by forfeiting to freshman Jake McCracken (17-10) and junior Cole Bressler (12-13). This made the score of the match 27-16, Brockway. Brockway had weighed in wrestlers at both weights, but chose not to send out their wrestlers.
The final match of the night was wrestled at 170 when Golden Tide sophomore Nick Holbert (4-11) found himself in a tight match against Brockway’s Bryce Grecco (5-9). With the match tied at three a piece in the third period, Holbert gave up an escape and a takedown off of a bad shot to lose 6-4.
Following three more forfeits, the match score was set at 51-26, Brockway.
Curwensville wrestling now has eight days to prepare for districts, and it seems their eyes are already set on the individual leg of the season. “Team stuff’s done and it’s time to start working on individual and get people through districts into regionals and to states. So that’s what we’re focused on now.” said Coach Swatsworth.
Look for Gant’s preview this coming week with all the brackets for AA and AAA in the District IV-IX Wrestling Championship, as well as the information you need to be fully prepared for the action next weekend.
Bout by Bout Recap
Records (as of 02/15)
Golden Tide Scoreboard:
| Date | Opponent | Score | Record |
| 12/09 | Mountaineer Tourney @ PO | 83 pts. | 8th |
| 12/13 | REDBANK VALLEY | 38 – 42 | 0 – 1 |
| 12/21 | RIDGWAY | 24 – 42 | 0 – 2 |
| 12/30 | @ Redbank Valley Duals Tourney | ||
| 12/30 | vs. Brashear | 54 – 9 | 1 – 2 |
| 12/30 | vs. Conneaut | 24 – 56 | 1 – 3 |
| 12/30 | vs. Keystone | 60 – 12 | 2 – 3 |
| 12/30 | vs. Mercer | 15 – 57 | 2 – 4 |
| 12/30 | vs. Punxsutawney | 36 – 33 | 3 – 4 |
| 01/09 | @ Brookville | 20 – 51 | 3 – 5 |
| 01/11 | @ Glendale | 33 – 39 | 3 – 6 |
| 01/15 | PUNXSUTAWNEY | 32 – 39 | 3 – 7 |
| 01/18 | @ St. Marys | 7 – 52 | 3 – 8 |
| 01/26 & 27 | @ Fred Bell Tourney @ Grove City | ||
| 01/30 | @ Clarion | 27 – 42 | 3 – 9 |
| 02/01 | WEST BRANCH | 10 – 64 | 3 – 10 |
| 02/03 | @ Juniata Duals | ||
| 02/09 | @ Mo Valley | 18 – 47 | 3 – 11 |
| 02/13 | @ Indiana | 9 – 48 | 3 – 12 |
| 02/15 | BROCKWAY | 26 – 51 | 3 – 13 |
| 02/23 & 24 | District 9 AA Champs @Clfd HS | ||
| 03/02 & 03 | Northwest Region @ Sharon | ||
| 03/08-10 | PIAA Championships @ Hershey |
